Abandoned Dog Became Aggressive When Police Approached It, So They Shot It Dead

By: Mackenzie Wright | January 25, 2018

If your family abandoned you by leaving you tied to a telephone pole in freezing cold weather, you might be a little frightened and cranky. One dog who was left tied up in frigid winter temperatures became aggressive when police attempted to approach him.

The officers decided to shoot the animal dead, and many are questioning their quick decision.

An elderly German Shepherd dog was discovered in Hartlepool in the U.K. one morning last week. A woman spotted the dog and called her husband to come down and help her.

A small crowd had gathered around the animal, trying to soothe him and feed him.

The terrified, cold dog was acting aggressively, and the crowd was at a loss. They called authorities, and police came down to check out the situation.

When the dog refused to let the officers approach him, they decided to 'destroy it' by shooting it dead.

Onlookers who had wanted to help the dog were horrified. Animal lovers have been questioning why rescuers couldn't just use a tranquilizer to sedate the frightened pooch.

Perhaps if he was transferred to a shelter, warmed up and given some food he might have behaved a little more calmly.

"I suggested that they used tranquillizers to sedate it and calm it down because it was barking as people tried to feed it but they just kept saying it was an aggressive dog," said the man who was trying to help the dog. "And now they have gone and shot it which is bang out of order."

"This is absolutely disgusting to read. The poor dog wasn't even given a chance," wrote one saddened person on social media.

"Absolutely horrendous. The poor dog was terrified, of course it was going to be aggressive," another person commented.

"The people it trusted most in this world left him/her tied to a pole in the freezing cold with no shelter, food or water and then a bunch of strangers come along and make a decision to take its life," noted another person.

"Shame on Cleveland Police and shame on the vet involved. Rest in peace poor baby," wrote another person.

Veterinary experts say the dog probably was too aggressive to be rehomed, and putting the pup down was probably inevitable. One ex-vet nurse chimed in on the discussion on Facebook and backed up the actions of the officers.

"If you think for a moment a dog behaving like this would have suddenly turned loving and sedate when it woke up in a vets cage you haven't been around many aggressive dogs," she wrote. "There's a risk it hurts or attacks a member of staff, I certainly wouldn't have wanted to risk being the guinea pig to see if it was different in a different situation."

Animal rescuers don’t generally want to see any abandoned pets come to unnecessary harm, but sometimes they have to make a tough decision.

A similar incident happened just last week in the U.S. when a pup was left tied to a tree in a park in Baltimore, Maryland.

The dog, named Duke, thankfully calmed down after a woman tried to approach him peacefully. Duke had a happy ending; the young bulldog was adopted by an Army specialist just days later.

Unfortunately, when a dog gets abandoned like this, the outcome is not always a happy one. People should surrender their dogs at shelters, not on the streets.